Hillary Clinton….true political persistence

Senator Clinton and I have very little agreement on any political view point, but I have to say, i’m getting a kick out of her persistence.  She is a fighter and whatever your political leanings you have to hand it to her, for just not giving up.  Its a great quality in a leader.  Someone who will push, and stand, and cast vision, and not lose heart no matter what.

I believe that if Obama was not the media darling that he is, and if the clintons didn’t have to reap what they have sown in the past, this election would be quite a different story to this point.  The tenacity that she has shown is truly what it takes to be a winner in the long run.  Just don’t ever give up.

Many have said, she is waisting money and time and creating conflict and division in the party by not giving up, but for whatever its worth, it has impressed me.  Enough to vote for her? No, probably not, but I would pick her over obama any day of the week.

Persistence, its a big deal.

 

David

Do I want to wait in the emergency room for a year and a half?

Well, this seems to be one of the more peculiar years in a presidential race history.  I find it all very interesting, and hope everything turns out in the best interest of our country.  I have no desire through this blog to endorse a candidate or try to persuade anyone based on my own political passions.  I just had a thought the other day that was worth voicing.

I’m sure you have heard about the FEMA Trailer fiasco on the southern coast.  After Hurricane Catrina and all the damage, one of the solutions was to house people in trailers so they could come back home and pull their lives back together.  So many were just leaving and staying gone, which would have been my course of action.  Seeing that nothing major has changed has only solidified my position on that.  By the way, when it happened we opened our facility and took several families from new orleans in for about six months, so we have some first hand experience with the situation.

First we all know how long it took for help to come in the first place, which is rather frightening for everyone in the united states.  Do I believe the slow response was racially motivated? No.  Do I believe it was all Gearge Bushes Fault?  No.  I believe it was poor planning on the Mayor, Govener and federal Government part, of which our president is a part.  Not to mention the local corruption.

The bottom line is that is what beuracracy gets us.  Slow response times, bad decisions, complicated issues.  There is nothing simple about it.

Now, back to the trailers.  These trailers were mass produced to house as many people as they could while things are being rebuilt.  A year and half ago, a report came out, where many of the people in these trailers were complaining that they and their children were getting sick, and having headaches, and they thought it was because of the trailers.  Now that sounds far fetched, and I can see someone saying, “no, how could it be the trailers?’  but recently a year and half later, they send a specialist in and find that the way the trailer were made, and i cant remember at the moment what element it was that caused the problem but something in the construction of those trailers was making people sick, and “now, we have to get all these people out of the trailers and get them another place to stay.”  35,000 trailers by the way.

So what’s my point exactly?  And how does it relate to the election or politics.  Here is how, we need to know the policies of the people running.  We are naive when we think the President, and I mean any president, is making all the decisions, and influencing all the policy.  There are three branches of Government, and they all inform our lives.

So we need to know what the candidates think about specific things and do we agree?  So, still, how does that relate to this.  We have big government candidates.  People who want to socialize health care, which a little research of nations who have it will enlighten us to the enormous problems with it.  My point is, do we want the system that took so long to respond to Katrina, and then took so long to respond to their own mistake, with the trailers, and still have not created a good solution in New Orleans and the coast, do we want that system to be our health care system.

Do I believe that everyone should have health care available to them?  Yes.  Do I believe that the corruption in the health care system, and the insurance companies, and the legal system should be addressed and dealt with because of their appearent unholy allience held together by greed?  Yes.

I believe there are ways to deal with this and I believe that everyone should have access to health care, and there are ways for the govt to help make that happen.

Lets be honest with ourselves however and look at the operations of many things the government takes on versus the private sector and as far as being successful is concerned there is no comparison.  Lets be careful that in our compassion we come up with the best solutions, and beuricratic, govermnet controlled, government being the answer to all lives problems, has never, will never, and can never work effectively.

Just some thoughts I’m having.  There is something to like and something to hate with every candidate, thats why we should base our decisions on principles, values, and Record.  Things that are fact, and final.  What people say can and will change in the course of political battle, that is the nature of the beast.

I have interest in what the candidates think about injustice, and how they propose to change things, and so far, I haven’t heard anything new, or anything at all.  We need to help others and we need to provide for those who need provisions, while empowering them to learn to provide for themselves.  There are organizations that can do this, and are, but where do our candidates stand really?

So Just think Long and hard, not with the passion of personality, or the enflamed partisan view point, but with our brains and our hearts, and in my case much prayer, research and consideration, and remember there is more to vote for than the president.  Lets make the goverment take responsabillity but not be our answer for everything.

David

We can learn from anyone especially our kids…

Great day yesterday….very productive. I had the privilege to attend open house at my daughter Sydney’s school. She is in first great and very smart by the way. She really is a brilliant child. Sweet, Kind, sharp, funny, and very expressive. It was good to observe her element. We see our kids in our element all the time, but do you ever stop to just watch them around their peers, and at their school.

We looked through all her papers, and we did a math center together, then she read me a wonderful story about the friendship between a boy and his pet. She also reads well. Am I bragging to much? You’ll get your turn. I was truly blessed by her for an entirely different reason.

As we walked through the halls, different kids would say, “hey Sydney”, “how ya doing Sydney?” and they were all very enthusiastic about saying hello to her. At one point i was talking to the school counselor a friend of mine, and as we stood there talking a young Hispanic girl came up and hugged Sydney around the neck and the whole family said hello to Sydney. The counselor said to me, “did you see what just happened there?” I said yeah, they said hi to Sydney, He said, you have to understand this is who Sydney is. She befriends everyone, especially the kids who have obstacles to deal with. This particular girl speaks very broken English and her family as well.

He said Sydney really connects and cares about people, and doesn’t let any barrier keep her from connecting.

This gives me pride. I love people, I love to be around people, I love to deal with people issues, its what I do. However i have to admit, sometimes when there are barriers, I find it easier to move on then take the time to cross them.

One more thing she showed me, was her “I have a dream” paper.  They did a section on Martin Luther King Jr.  She was very artistic and her coloring exquisite of cours…”here i go again,” but what she wrote was the most important.  She wrote…”My dream for the world, is to love God, and everybody everyday,” and “My dream for our country, is no war, and no more arguing.”

I think if will listen, we might learn something.

Lets all take it from Sydney and develop relationship beyond any barriers. I think it would make for a better world….

What do you think?……..

Super Bowl…Super Tuesday

Wow!  What a game.  All I can say is the Giants came to play.  It is interesting, how people are motivated by being considered the underdog.  Coming from behind seems to drive us to push ourselves even beyond ourselves.  Every Giants player I heard interviewed said something to the effect of “no one gave us credit,” or, “No one thought we could beat the ‘perfect team.’”  I think they were more motivated by that, than by the fact they were playing a team with a perfect record, or that they were playing for the super bowl, the ultimate achievement for them.  It was more motivating to them to prove they should not be underestimated, they should not be counted out.  They proved it!

My dad used to always say, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.”  We can say we’re going to do this or that, but doing it, is what makes it taste so great!  The ingrediants of this pudding were exceptional.  The sweet taste of defensive domination, and the beautiful presentation of offensive prowess, kept the Pats on their heals, and intimidated.

Make no mistake, the perfect team, played excellent, they were just out played.  Simply Outplayed.  What a victory.  Its also interesting to me, that what motivated them, “the underdog syndrom”  is what made the victory so sweet.  Every interview after the game was….“they said we couldn’t do it.  Well, we did!”  I love it.

It makes me wonder on super Tuesday will there be the same effect.  Obama on one side and Romney on the other, both facing significant odds but neither giving up.  They are facing established opponents, politcally worthy, both.  Listen to their speach, listen to their tone.  “We may be the underdog, but we believe we can do this. ” Its funny, we can be motivated by what people think, or what they believe or don’t believe about us, but when it comes down to it, its about what we believe about ourselves.

What are people counting you out about?  What old mind set is telling you, “your not good enough,” or ” you’re to old or to young.”  Who’s voice do you hear saying, “the odds are to great, or you don’t have enough experience.”  Let it be fuel to your fire and flowers to your victory.  Dream, believe, act, and achieve…..defy the odds!

David